The History of Fly Fishing - Dr. Andrew Herd

This is a truly remarkable book, spanning the whole history of the sport and practice of fly fishing. The text is filled with many characters and personalities that will be familiar to anyone interested in the topic, but Herd adds a supporting cast of less well known names and some surprising locations. Each chapter deals with a range of subjects, looking at the evolution of many of the principal items that make up the modern fly fisher's armoury.

As well as being very readable, the book is also scholarly, with a wealth of references to keep any angling bibliophile happy for years. Having said this, I'm not entirely sure I agree with all of Dr. Herd's conclusions, but then so many new facts and discoveries in this field are being uncovered all the time, so perhaps this is how it should be.

Definitely a book that should be on the bookshelf of any angling historian or tackle collector.

Author

This Blog started as a channel for recycling some short book reviews I'd written for a stillwater fishery website that I look after. Since then it has, I hope, become a much more focused arena for promoting publications of real use and interest to those who visit WVFFM